COMM

AN RWU PRSSA PUBLICATION

MARCH 2012 Volume 2, Issue 4

Alumna

Q&A Mary Concannon

Studying Abroad Can Make You a Better PR Pro

Media training for the masses

Brand You

The Importance of a Subject Line

ent

How Studying Abroad Can Make You a Better Communications Professional

Kassandra Ricci_COMMunicator Studying abroad is the experience of a lifetime and it ends up teaching you a lot about yourself and the world around you. But what else can studying abroad teach you other than a few words in di erent languages and an a nity for foreign beer? Studying abroad can help students build fundamental skills that will help them become better professionals. Studying abroad can teach you to:

There were cities I visited where I didnt know a single word of the language. Equipped with nothing but our pocket language guides, my friends and I had to nd the best way to ask for directions. We ended up nding some cool opportunities, all because we took the time to gure out how to communicate with people. Public relations is about knowing the best way to reach your target publics. Studying abroad can give you experience in learning to shape your messages and re ne your body language to e ectively communicate. Plus, language experience on your resume is a huge bonus!

Communicate E ectively-

Things in a foreign country will be di erent, thats half the fun of going abroad! Maybe the people are overly friendly, or you nd out it cost 15 euro to sit and drink your co ee like you do at home. At rst, these di erences may seem nerve wracking, but adapting to the new way of life is part of the process. Learning to gracefully deal with change and embrace new situations early in life will put you ahead of colleagues. It shows future employers that you are comfortable in new environments and can interact with a diverse set of people.

Step outside your comfort zone-

Leaving home to live in a foreign country is a huge chance. Its going to be scary, but its also going to be awesome. Sure, you may be terri ed of heights, but jumping o that cli and conquering your fear will be epic. Life is about choices. Learn to take a chance on yourself. Studying abroad can leave you with a condence in your abilities that will impress future employers.

Be Con dent-

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Brand You
At this years National Conference in San Francisco, I attended a presentation which resonated well with both myself and the other attending PRSSA members. "Brand You" was presented by Matt Prince, who acts as the Social Media Manager at Disneyland Resort. The main idea of his presentation was that you are the most important client you will ever have in your life. Individuals are becoming more like companies and companies are becoming more like individuals. Your personal brand is your name, image, online identity, reputation, and network.

Kathryn McTeague_COMMunicator

then make sure you are okay with that. Listen, reply, expand, leverage, and get out of the rst inner circle of your community. Be narrow-minded, and by that he did not mean close-minded. Being narrow-minded means to follow the plan, follow your gut and play games.

Prince used the metaphor of playing pool and chess. When you play pool, you plan ahead. Professionals do not take one shot without thinking of the next steps. When you play chess, sometimes the right move is to go forward, other times it is to go back or to the side. Be a content creator. By controlling your messages, Find Yourself. Create a road map with a mission state- you are creating that perfect vision of yourself. Content ment, objectives and goals and actually write it out. is only king when you do it correctly. Be a storyteller. Have a S.W.O.T. analysis and follow the map. Prince had earlier told us about a time that his orange juice cap combusted in his car, made a loud pop and Make an Impression. Live everyday like you are on a hit him in the head leading him to believe that he was rst date because on a rst date, you are always pre- shot. He then re ected back on that and explained that senting the best version of yourself to others. Have a we will always remember that because it is a story. branding tool kit consisting of an elevator pitch, personal website, blog, social media presence, a resume, Be remembered, keep it simple, and tell the truth business cards, and breath mints. Mirror your version of because without trust, your brand will fail. success. Live like you are a kid again and be that image of what you always envisioned. You are as good as the Take it o ine. Get out of the house and have converlast results of what Google brings up of your name. Be sations that last longer than 140 characters. Every great genuine and do not ever pressure yourself to do things. contact in the professional world was developed o ine. Even if they may have started online, they strengthen Do Social Right. Social media is not a brand strategy: the most with face-to-face interaction. Online is just It is a tool. It is only a small part of what you do. Four one- fth of our personal brand. aspects of your personality are exempli ed through di erent social media sites. On LinkedIn, you are "the Remember, social media is not a brand strategy, it is professional, on Facebook you are "the person, Twitter a tool. Repetition, repetition, repetition is key. It takes represents you as "the social networker," and your blog people seven times to hear something before they makes you "the expert. know what is going on. Be consistent with your brand. Prince shared his ife ife rule of posting information online, which states that if what you post is not at least two of the following, do not post it: Interesting, funny, educational, impressive, attering, embarrassing. Make sure you are always picture perfect. Only have photos posted of yourself that represent you in a positive light. If someone is to look at any one of your pictures and determine that that is your personal brand, Know your audience. Adapt without compromise: Who is your audience? No two resumes should be alike. You need to adapt your resume to the company you are looking at. Do not forget to update your tool bag. Most importantly, have fun and keep it up! The moment you stop having fun, you'll need a new job.

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Tweeting On Your Feet

Elizabeth Monahan_COMMunicator
Just after the kicko of the second half of Super Bowl XLVII, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome fell into a blackout. While Ravens and 49ers players tried to stay warm during the 34-minute intermission, Oreos social media team quickly capitalized on this timely event. They tweeted, Power out? No problem. showing an ad reading you can still dunk in the dark. Its ironic that on the biggest (and most expensive) night in advertising, one brand was able to create a spur of the moment tweet for free which gained more praise and recognition than many of the Super Bowl 30 second spot commercials. Genius; everyone in the Twitter sphere took notice. Imitation is the sincerest form of attery and it was no surprise that Oscar night was packed with tweets from brands attempting relevancy. However, these instantaneous tweets seem to have back red because brands were creating content just to be seen rather than serving a purpose by adding value to the conversation online. Smart Car was a brand that got real-time marketing right during the Oscars by using Vine, a six-second stop-motion GIF. @smartcarusa celebrated the winners in smart sized versions of the lms. Chobani was another favorite success among people in the PR world. For those of you entering internships or jobs in social media, here are some key takeaways from the Oscars suggested by PR Daily: - Fit the brand message to the event and the moment. - In RTM, the bigger the event doesnt always mean better returns. - Just because another brand has great success with something doesnt mean it will work for your brand. - Without the infrastructure in place to execute in real time, youre going to have di culty making it work. - Know that preparation and sta ng is key to real-time marketing activation.

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The subject in an email isnt that important, right?

I know what youre thinking, did she really just use Grumpy Cat in an article? and yes, yes I did. I couldnt help myself and got on this Grumpy Cat bandwagon to let you know that the most important part of an email when pitching is the subject line. How could less than 10 words be more important than your entire email? Heres why:

If its not newsworthy, the email will not even be opened!

Follow these three simple tips to assure every email you send out is opened:
1. Personalize, personalize, and personalize! Write the reporters name in the subject line so they know theyre not opening a mass email.

2. Play on words. When I thought I wanted to intern abroad in Australia at Polka Dot PR, I used their name in the subject line.

3. Bring the news to the front line. Dont mention the fact that you believe what youre emailing is important, mention why what youre pitching is newsworthy.

Theresa Agonia_COMMunicator

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Alumna

Q&A Mary Concannon

RWU COMMent sat down with 2012 Roger Williams grad, Mary Concannon, to catch up with her and ask for advice for future PR hopefuls. RWU COMMent: What is your current position in the working eld? Mary Concannon: Account Coordinator in the Restaurant, Hospitality and Travel division at marlo marketing/communications. RC: What did our PR program provided you? MC: RWUs PR program provided me with a baseline understanding of what PR is, and built my writing, event planning and organizational skills, and real life experience through internships, all of which have absolutely translated to my post-grad job in the eld. RC: What did PRSSA help you with? MC: I cant even begin to explain all that RWU PRSSA helped me with. I got an internship that led to my current job as a result of PRSSAs annual Boston tours. I was able to meet both professionals and like-minded students from across the country through national conferences, nation-wide competitions and local events run by PRSSA. I was also able to connect with other RWU students with similar interests to mine through PRSSA, and build relationships that I knew would last far beyond graduation. RC: What do you wish you knew about PR before you graduated? MC: I wish I knew how incredibly large and diverse of a eld PR is. There are so many opportunities out there in public relations, whether its representing celebrities in LA, working in-house for a large corporation in Rhode Island or managing media relations and event planning for restaurants in Boston (like me!), the public relations major can really be customized to suit a students interests and skillsets. RC: What did your internships give you that your classes didnt? MC: My internships helped me learn to take criticism and learn from it, manage multiple tasks at once, and interact with a variety of personality types in a professional team environment. They also helped me build my writing abilities in a wider range of styles.

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April 6, 2013 Hyatt Regency Newport Newport, R.I. Cocktails 5:30 p.m. Tickets on sale now! Program 6:00 p.m. $15 for PRSSA Members $20 for RWU students/alum $75 for parents $100 for outside guests

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Editor-in-Chief Sofia Giovannello COMMunicators Theresa Agonia Kinsey Janke Kathryn McTeague Elizabeth Monahan Kyrie Perry Kassandra Ricci Want to write for us? Contact: rwucomment@gmail.com